India’s Meghalaya state regrets flybig subsidy plan

India’s Meghalaya state government made a costly mistake when it signed a deal with flybig (S9, Indore) to provide subsidised services between the state capital Shillong and Delhi Int’l, according to state Transport Minister Dasakhiatbha Lamare.

The Meghalaya administration paid more than INR20 million rupee (USD263,421) to flybig which had operated only 16 flights between Shillong and New Delhi since December 2020. Services had stopped in September 2021 after the carrier could not secure the required DHC-8-Q400 from SpiceJet (SG, Delhi Int’l) for the route, reported Shillong Times newspaper and East Mojo news.

Responding to questions during the budget session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Lamare admitted the agreement with flybig had been signed in a hurry and that his department had learned a hard lesson.

As reported previously, the contract had stipulated that the Shillong route be operated with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Dash 8-Q400 aircraft. flybig had failed to secure such an aircraft from SpiceJet.

Lamare said the government had sent a show-case notification to flybig. The airline had requested an extension until the end of March 2022 to resume the service. Lamare was unable to give an exact date when the service would resume.

“If they are able to resume, we will go ahead with the services, or else we will re-examine and look for a better solution,” he said.

Meghalaya state Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said flybig had been selected following a tender process in which two airlines had participated, the other contender having quoted on jet services, the operating costs of which would have been much higher than a Dash 8-Q400.

“Secondly, this agreement was signed, and the tender process was done before COVID happened, and the entire process of getting a wet-lease for an aircraft had started during that time. Due to the lockdown, several sectors took a hit, and things came to a standstill,” he explained. He said no more payment had been made to the airline.

flybig was not immediately available for comment.

Based at Indore, flybig operates one ATR72-500 leased from Avation and one ATR72-600 leased from DAE Capital on domestic routes, including Agartala, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Kolkata Int’l, Lilabari, Pasighat, Rupsi, and Tezu, according to the ch-aviation schedules module.